"Everything on this car is made as convoluted by BMW as possible. Anything that goes wrong is expensive. I blew a $40 high pressure hose for my air condition and BMW charged $975 for the hose. My A pillar flew off on the highway (and everywhere online that sells the part has many many other people this has happened to). My coolant overflow reservoir has melted twice (which I finally replaced with a non BMW one), and BMW knows about it and wont recall or fix the problem. Because of the supercharger, it builds up carbon, so unless you go to a BMW place to get that washed out (at a high cost) your fuel mileage and performance go down every year. I have the S model which has no spare, but the car does come with run flats, but they are expensive to replace and some tire shops wont mess with them. The performance on this little car is excellent, the handling is superb. It does handle like a go cart. It does drive well in most weather since its front wheel drive. Being the first run of these cars, it's expected they have issues, but this car was over the top, and every single person I've known to have one has had the same or more issues. Another issue many Mini owners experience is that its so low you can't see most traffic lights without dunking down a little. Also people will you hit in a parking spot. I've been hit 3 times in parking spots. The car is so small people just turn in on you."

"Mini Cooper created a great economical solid and safe car when it introduced the 2002 Mini. The sporty stripes help this car to stand out everywhere we go. The gas mileage, ease of driving and comfort are unmatched by similar vehicles from other companies. The moonroof is so wide, it is almost as if having a convertible. Perfect first car!"

cute to drive, excellent design, non reliable!

Reviewer Ratings

Overall Rating

5/10

Value

3/10

Reliability

3/10

Quality

3/10

Performance

5/10

Styling

9/10

Comfort

5/10

Likely to recommend this car? (1-10): 2

"I owned a Mini Cooper 2006. I loved the design, the driving in the city, the white pepper color but...
Within 9 yrs of driving: Radio/ cd player not performant; Muffler needed replacement around 80,000; and then a RA-TA-TA noise around 100,800 miles that became worse and worse in about 3 weeks, to find out is the transmission and will cost me $ 8,669. And if not replaced urgently the car will dye on me any second..
So, good luck to all of you! extremely costy for the price you pay for new ones."

best vehicle ever!

Reviewer Ratings

Overall Rating

10/10

Value

10/10

Reliability

10/10

Quality

10/10

Performance

10/10

Styling

10/10

Comfort

10/10

Pros: "Cool Car"

Cons: "NADA"

Likely to recommend this car? (1-10): 10

"i ordered this mini special made just for me. It was made in Germany and shipped to Houston. My mini is so well made, a solid driving machine. Extremely fast, so I had to start using the cruise control to avoid speeding tickets. Great MPH, great on long road trips. It is a 2dr hatchback so it is small, no room for adults in the back seat, but with the backseats folded down, i moved 1000 miles with 6 cats in large cat carriers, plus my luggage AND everything i would need to survive until my moving truck arrived 2 weeks later. I love this car, it is now over 10 years old and i have only had to make one major repair this year, struts all around. i would not buy a used mini if i were you, but if you are looking for a brand new, fun, well built car, go test drive a mini cooper s and check out the JCW package, that's what i have. my only regret is that they did not offer an AWD or heated seats when they made my car... go for the AWD!"

Front end collision - NO sign of impact from the inside! Does what it should during a crash; protects the occupant(s)!

"I ordered this car directly from MINI, built to my custom specs. It was made in the factory in Oxford, England, and shipped to me. I took delivery of my 2005 Convertible S, with only 12 miles on it. I was the sole driver, loved that car! Although my mechanic kept telling me at 45K miles, then 65K miles, then 85K miles that I would need to replace the clutch and transmission (manual transmission), I never needed to. That's the benefit of one driver, I suppose. Also, the total of ALL monies spent to maintain and "repair" this car over the past 11 years was a mere $7,038 (per my mechanic's service records). I believe this car was a Christian Scientist, because nothing ever went wrong with her!
Ultimately, that car protected me from serious injury (or worse) last week when a red-light runner took my beautiful MINI out, may she rest in peace. The emergency personnel at the scene even remarked, "That car is a bulldog - did exactly what a car should do in a crash". Although the car was totaled, the crumple zones and engineering genius in that car ensured that any injury to me, personally, was minimal. I didn't even feel the impact, and walked away with only a slight airbag burn on the inside of my right wrist. From the completely intact interior, you would not even be able to tell there had been an accident! The exterior tells a completely different story.
I will save save save and order another MINI as soon as I can. Oh - and although the KBB value was not as high as I'd wished, the insurance company valued it MUCH higher due to the excellent condition of the car, and it's popular re-sale values locally."